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CU president: "We have to be ready for some more cuts"

Bruce Benson says state funding could be cut by more than 50 percent again

By Brittany Anas

Posted:
10/20/2010 02:12:00 PM MDT

Updated:
10/20/2010 05:21:12 PM MDT

University of Colorado President Bruce Benson listens to questions Wednesday after addressing faculty and staff members at Old Main on the Boulder campus.
(Cliff Grassmick )

State funding to the University of Colorado could plummet to as low as $80 million during the upcoming fiscal year, which would be a 54 percent cut from this year, CU President Bruce Benson cautioned during a town hall meeting Wednesday.

“We have to be ready for some more cuts,” he said.

Benson did not outline specific plans for addressing budget cuts, but he said the central administration would share the burden with CU's campuses.

In the address held in Old Main on the Boulder campus, Benson updated employees on his concerns about a state panel working to reform higher education and relayed practices that will help balance CU's budget.

He said the school is in the "quiet phase" of a major fundraising campaign, with a goal set to be announced early next year, and that flexibility with state spending rules granted through Senate Bill 3 is already allowing the university to save money on construction projects and real estate transactions. An audit of CU's benefits roll to verify dependents' eligibility saved the school $2.3 million, he said.

Benson said that a high-tech video conferencing system holds promise and could help administrators save time and money by not traveling to other campuses as frequently for meetings.

CU last year received $175 million from the state, thanks in part to a boost from federal stimulus money, Benson told employees and students during the standing-room-only gathering.

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In fiscal year 2009, CU received $209 million from the state.

Benson said that although the school is working to keep tuition affordable, it's “premature” for regents to bring forward a resolution that would have capped in-state tuition rate increases at 4 percent. That bipartisan measure was postponed on a 5-4 vote last week.

“There's been a heck of a bias against the University of Colorado,” he said.

For example, he said an early proposal that would have toughened admissions standards at the Boulder campus would have cost the university roughly $16.5 million in lost tuition.

“We do play defense a lot,” Benson said. “We have to knock those ideas down, one by one.”

CU law professor Mark Squillace, who heads the Natural Resources Law Center, said the university should position itself better by improving interdisciplinary research.

Last year, he said, the National Science Foundation advertised a $5 million grant related to sustainability that would have been a perfect fit for CU. Despite efforts to reach out to a half dozen departments scattered across campus, the school didn't have the resources to bring together the academics to apply for the grant.

“We're leaving a lot of money on the table,” Squillace said.

He suggested that the university make an additional hire in the research office that could better bring together departments and help with grant writing.

Another CU employee — who said she has a child enrolled as a freshman at CU — suggested to Benson that the university offer financial aid to the children of employees. She pointed out that employees' salaries have remained flat amid the economic downturn.

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